ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I describe the development and growth of the manufacturing and user base for electronic analogue and hybrid (combined analogue/digital) computers in the USA, from 1945 to the mid-1970s. I begin by introducing a classification scheme to analyze and describe, largely at the level of the firm, the origins, structure and dynamics of the nascent electronic analogue computer industry .! This covers the period from 1945 to 1955, by which time a mature industry had emerged. Indeed, as we shall see, by the mid -1950s more than a dozen firms were manufacturing a large range of general-purpose electronic analogue computer systems. These varied in size from desk-top models to room-sized installations, and in cost from $10,000 to more than $200,000. As a result of both in-house development of electronic analogue computers and the availability of commercial systems, the community of users also expanded considerably during this period. From 1955 to the mid-1960s the manufacturing and user base continued to grow, and firms began to introduce hybrid computer systems into thei r range of products. As we shall
By 1950 a manufacturing base consisting of four firms-Reeves, Boeing, Goodyear and G. A. Philbrick Researches Inc.-had been established, along with a market for general-purpose electronic analogue computers. Analysing the formative period, 1945 to 1955, we see that the firms and institutions involved in electronic analogue computer development can be divided into three categories: developer/users, user/manufacturers and non-user/manufacturers. These are defined as follows:
- The developer/users are those finns and institutions that developed and built general-purpose analogue computer systems for in-house use, which were never commercialised. Example are the Dynamic Analysis and Control Lab at MIT, Bell Telephone Labs, Sperry Gyroscope CO,2 and Convair Inc.
